the Abolition of Work

from the Abolition of Work by Bob Black
http://www.zpub.com/notes/black-work.html

essay read by: http://audioanarchy.org/

"Workers of the world...RELAX"

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• work
• sucks
• bored
• boredom
• bob
• black
• anarchy
• anarchism
• laziness
• lazy
• crimethinc

[zzz33333]

"work" is defined most broadly by the American Heritage Dictionary as "any physical or mental activity designed to achieve a goal."

i paraphrased.

summary: i am not against work.

we need to redefine how we think of our lives, how we work, what we work towards.

yes?

[idemandmydreams]

well yeah. Bob Black defines "work" later in the essay:

"My minimum definition of work is forced labor, that is, compulsory production...Work is production enforced by economic or political means...But not all creation is work. Work is never done for its own sake, it's done on account of some product or output that the worker (or, more often, somebody else) gets out of it."

[idemandmydreams]

...The word "work", as Bob uses it, is in more in relationship to the wage economy. I'm not against people doing things, or "working" on activities they enjoy. Example being I "worked" on this video because it was fun. To quote Bob: "That doesn't mean we have to stop doing things. It does mean creating a new way of life based on play; in other words, a ludic conviviality, commensality, and maybe even art."

[jtr3030]

workers of the world, relax!

[Vice81]

Hey Bob Black finally made it on to youtube!

[cauchamar]

What anyone can do now, anyway, is do as Thoreau said - simplify. Have no false needs and live joyfully and simply. Besides giving you a happier, more meaningful, more authentic experience, this will allow you to work as little as you can get away with and still survive. If everyone did this, this society would die in a month. But it's enough that any one of us does it and frees himself, and fulfills his human potential, so far as he can in these far from ideal conditions.

[cauchamar]

The idea that hard work is both necessary and a virtue is perhaps the most harmful and pervasive lies ever spread by European civilization. You know who hardly worked at all? Most North American Indians. You know why not? They didn't need to. They had all they needed, and could make their civilization go with very little effort. And you know what else? Their civilization has proven to have been optimal, while Europe's has been shown to be nature destroying and ultimately unsustainable. Fuck work

[bok255]

Can we ever really escape "forced labor." People will always need services from other people, save from some mechanized revolution. If I mend roofs for chickens so that I may live is that "work" by Black's definition. If not, how is that different from working a McDonald's so that I can afford services that ensure my survival. The only difference is capitalism. So if the later is problematic, it seems to me capitalism is the problem....not work.

[Ryanowning]

I don't completely agree, some people do enjoy their jobs. However, I do agree with you when you say employment, for that implies that you must come to work and you must go about your job. I don't like the idea of being forced to work, even when I enjoy it. I'd much rather do it because I like it, rather than because it's the only means to survive.

[phammm1]

Thank you!!

Work for the sake of activity that does nothing for the individual laboring doesn't add to that individuals approach to creativity and freedom. Not that individuals need to be forever entertained, but we definitely don't need our time occupied by mindless repetitive "labor" Funny how some of our terminology is so perfectly descriptive, like "Labor"

Question-- I can't this moment think of a term that might best describe the mind involved in a clearly repetitive mode,

[WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

@idemandmydreams

Can we assume by writing the essay Bob Black was engaged in a sort of voluntary work? As an amateur writer aiming to get my novel published at some point I acknowledge that it may require the business side of the publication process. In a sense that is work. My point is that surely even to promote these ideas we rely on a certain degree of 'work' to do so.

Thankyou for the upload by the way.

[WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

^^^ that should be creativity in unemployment*

[WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

@WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1

cont.... develops on a widespread basis that a minimal-work and ultimately work-free environment exists in my lifetime. But I will be an old man by the time that happens. For that reason longevity is of great interest to me because I want to see what advances man makes in the coming century. I want to witness history.